Your Confirmation Bias

Confirmation Bias – Hate truth or just opposing viewpoints?

There are a few interesting (and documented) mental conditions or states that I feel contribute to the hell of the world these days.

One, and probably the largest cause of most of our problems between “people” (in western / 1st world countries at least) is our beloved internet. The spread of information, influence, and indoctrination. Rapid-fire change, short attention spans, and non-stop influx of data muddying the mental waters.

But beneath that “new-fangled” nemesis we have to contend with are long-standing obervational conditions psychologists and psychiatrists “coined” a long time ago (among hundreds of “labels”): Confirmation Bias and a related cousin Cognitive Dissonance.

Through repeated programming in countless forms (entertainment, news, celebrity) “ideals” are almost forced on people.

“Climate change,” “equality,” “gun violence,” and thousands of other hot-button topics most people have a stance on.

But when challenged with factual evidence that contradicts their beliefs, most people somehow cannot comprehend:

Climate Change: That humans have little effect on the environment (most is caused by sunspots). Have you seen who benefits from this big, bad scare?

Equality: No idea of the hard work / reward concept. Or that statistics are readily fudged. Or how it polarizes a country. Who’s waiting on the sidelines?

Gun Control: Low hanging fruit. Don’t understand the constitution. Never heard of other historical atrocities associated with removal of self-defense. Have you ever considered what false flags are?

We could go on, especially with the whole public bathroom nonsense (which is quite possibly the worst of the bunch).

Such a shame that society – at its most “advanced” stage has lost the ability to think critically, ask deep questions, and sort through the clusterfuck we’ve created.